“Through striking color‚ emotive gazes and a delicate balance of beauty and violence‚ Araki seduces his viewers’ eyes in order to betray their morals.”

The Huffington Post

“Araki defies the strict censorship laws in his native country rather than compromise his vision.”

The Art Newspaper

“Why not knot its cotton strings extra tight‚ invite someone you fancy round for a brew, and watch as they struggle to force it open for a browse of its beautifully printed series of striking geisha portraits.”

10 Magazine

“There is no denying the photographs’ demonstration of Araki’s much-applauded mastery of composition, colour and tone:
at times washed-out and delicate‚ at others bold and striking.”

AnOther

Araki. Bondage

Edition of 845

Japanese binding, three vols. in wooden box, 11.4 x 13 in., 19.71 lb, 600 pages

US$ 1,500

This edition is sold out. However, occasionally, copies do become available again. Please register on our waiting list so we can inform you if this edition, or anything similar comes up.

Walk the fine line between art and pornography in this celebration of Kinbaku-bi, the Japanese art of erotic bondage and one of Nobuyoshi Araki’s most important subjects. This Collector’s Edition, featuring Araki’s favorite bondage photos captured over his entire career, is a testament to his ability to tantalizingly balance sexual vulnerability and seduction.

Limited Collector’s Edition of 845 copies, each numbered and signed by Nobuyoshi Araki, packaged in a wooden box and hand-bound in the Japanese tradition

Teaser

Pleasure principle

Kinbaku-bi, anyone?

Meaning “the beauty of tight binding,” Kinbaku-bi, the Japanese art of erotic bondage, has long fascinated Nobuyoshi Araki, who has made it one of his most important subjects. He’s been called a genius and a poet, and also a misogynist, a pornographer, a monster, but Araki’s work transcends simplistic moralistic classifications. He has said of his work: “There is no conclusion. It’s completely open. It doesn’t go anywhere.” Whether literally or figuratively, his bound subjects are certainly immobilized, yet in the most tantalizing ways.

This Collector’s Edition is limited to 845 copies, each numbered and signed by Nobuyoshi Araki. It consists of three volumes, enticingly hand-bound in the Japanese tradition and packaged in a wooden box, featuring Araki’s selection of his favorite bondage photos from over his entire career.

Also available in 3 Art Editions, each limited to 50 copies and accompanied by a color photograph

The artist

Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo in 1940. Given a camera by his father at the ripe age of twelve, Araki has been taking pictures ever since. He studied photography and film at Chiba University and went into commercial photography soon after graduating. In 1970 he created his famous Xeroxed Photo Albums, which he produced in limited editions and sent to friends, art critics, and people selected randomly from the telephone book. Over the years, his bold, unabashed photographs of his private life have been the object of a great deal of controversy and censorship (especially in his native Japan), a fact that has not fazed the artist nor diminished his influence. To date, Araki has published over 400 books of his work.

Araki. Bondage

Edition of 845

Japanese binding, three vols. in wooden box, 11.4 x 13 in., 19.71 lb, 600 pages

Araki. Bondage. Art Edition No. 1–50 ‘Untitled, 1990’ (Limited Edition)

Araki. Frühwerk des japanischen Fotografen

Albertina, Vienna

Edition of 845

US$ 1,500

Araki. Bondage